


Not Here, Not Today

by Independence1776



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Canonical Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 03:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Independence1776/pseuds/Independence1776
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dairine finally meets Darth Vader.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Here, Not Today

**Author's Note:**

> Many, many thanks to [](http://shadowsinfire.livejournal.com/profile)[**shadowsinfire**](http://shadowsinfire.livejournal.com/) for the beta! It’s set sometime before _Wizard’s Dilemma_. Written for [](http://dai-stiho.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://dai-stiho.livejournal.com/)**dai_stiho** 's first challenge.

Dairine peered around the corner, Spot at her feet. She'd gotten a lot better at silent teleportation, but there was still the risk of someone spotting it happen. But she'd appeared in a service alcove, and no one had noticed.

It looked just like any other space station she'd been to, full of metal and bodies, a bit worn around the edges but still in good condition. But the people-- that changed from place to place. Humans were in the slight majority, aliens not quite creeping along but avoiding catching human gazes. Dairine frowned. That wasn't a good sign. She left the alcove, Spot scuttling behind her. At least he'd blend in for the most part-- there were other androids moving around. She even thought she'd glimpsed something that looked remarkably like an R2 unit.

Dairine settled down on a chair near a board listing arrivals and departures. She studied it, absently reading the listing of planets and ships before a cold lump appeared in her gut. She hadn't needed the Speech to provide a translation. She _knew_ the characters, having once spent an afternoon memorizing them.

Aurebesh.

The Star Wars universe was real. And she was supposed to run interference while a leader in the Rebel Alliance escaped the station via Docking Bay 12.

She picked up Spot and flipped open the lid, dread and excitement blurring together. She had never quite lost the desire to beat Darth Vader up, but now that he wasn't fictional, she wasn't so sure she wanted to. Spot already had on his screen the information about the space station-- far more than she'd had originally, now that she was here-- and the various ships around it. It took less than a second to spot the humungous Star Destroyer parked a few kilometers away: the _Executor_ , Darth Vader's command ship.

Dairine stared at the metal wall in front of her. The Powers That Be thought she could handle this. Now she wasn't so sure. It was one thing to imagine beating Darth Vader up, but reality? Reality meant that she faced the Emperor's right hand man. Reality meant facing the monster who hunted down the Jedi. Reality meant an eleven-year-old could not win in a straight lightsaber duel, no matter how hard she wished. And that meant she could die here.

Dairine took a deep breath. She could do this. Turning her attention back to Spot, she memorized as much as she could about the station's layout: the location of Docking Bay 12, the leader (a blue dot waiting in a seating area just outside the dock it needed), the location of Vader (in the office of the station's governor), and all the points in between. She closed the lid when Vader left the office.

She had to hurry, though she was far closer to Docking Bay 12 than Vader. It was just one level lower, and a bit to the right. _He_ was half a dozen floors up and on the other side of the station. She skipped the turbolift, choosing to use the stairs, ignoring the “Restricted Area” sign on the door. She _needed_ to be caught, needed to prove that she was a wizard-- or in local parlance, a Jedi. She gulped as she opened the door to the level. Capturing a loose Jedi was more important than catching a Rebel leader.

She had walked maybe twenty feet to the left, carrying Spot, when a vaguely metallic male voice behind her said, “Halt.”

Dairine turned around, blanching when she saw the squad of stormtroopers pointing their blasters at her. “Um…”

The one in the lead lowered his blaster. “Why were you in a restricted sector?”

“It was a shortcut.”

“Where is your family?”

Time to keep attention on herself. “I don't have one here.”

She heard another stormtrooper sigh, but the commander said, “Another orphan of the war.”

“I'm not an orphan!”

The squad put their guns away. The commander said, “You will come with us. You are under arrest for trespassing.”

Dairine bit back a smile. Now to get Vader involved, because a child sneaking around a space station would be nothing out of the ordinary. Silently, she recited the shield spell Nita was so fond of and used a second spell to push them away from her. “What makes you think I'm coming with you?”

The commander said, “Stun her. And make sure you grab her droid.”

The blue stun bolt dissipated when it hit the shield. She shot a cheeky grin at the stormtroopers and took off running-- away from Bay 12. The blaster bolts winging passed her were no longer set to stun, and people were dodging out of the way. Time to make use of the maps she'd studied, get the uninvolved out of danger. She turned right, into a service corridor.

Spot said _Vader is coming. The leader is boarding its ship_.

_Good_ , Dairine silently replied. _If I can distract him long enough. Have a teleportation spell ready. We're going to need to skedaddle at a moment's notice, but only after the leader's gone._

She turned a corner and stopped, breathing hard. Vader, with another squad of stormtroopers, had just stepped into the corridor ahead of her. They stared at each other, but the stormtroopers (the 501st, the giddy part of her mind said) didn't pull their blasters out. They’d follow the Sith’s lead. She'd allowed herself to be driven to Vader.

She stood her ground as Vader stalked forward, unlit lightsaber in hand. Briefly, she wished she had one of her own, but she'd have no real idea of how to use it, and that would be fatal. Magic would be enough. She said, “Why did you abjure your Oath?”

Vader growled, and coming through his voice box, it was honestly terrifying. He lit his lightsaber, the blood-red blade shining. Dairine gulped and strengthened the shield surrounding her, wishing she had a lightsaber. This was not what she'd imagined facing him would be like. “Why did you turn your back on us?”

Vader swung, his lightsaber hitting the shield. Light flared, but the shield held. He pulled it back. “You are no mere Padawan.”

Dairine grinned. “I'm a fully fledged wizard." She paused, then said, "The Light will triumph, and the Jedi will rise again.”

Spot said _It's in hyperspace_.

Dairine looked Vader in the eye. “The Rebel leader is safe.”

Before he could react, she collapsed the shield and teleported out of the corridor, safely to her backyard. She sat down on the ground for a few minutes, catching her breath, staring at the apple on Spot's lid. She'd met Darth Vader. She hadn't defeated him. But it hadn't been necessary. Anyway, she couldn't have upstaged Luke Skywalker, not even for a childhood dream. She could only have defeated him; Luke was going to redeem him.

She put Spot on the dirt and stood up, brushing herself off. She grinned. Just in case she ever ended up back in that galaxy, she'd construct a lightsaber. Nita was going to kill her when she found out. But at least Dairine would have one part of her dream.


End file.
